Tobacco manipulating machine



y F. FL RUAU TOBACCD MANIPULATING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Mwniar v @74 2 WGW Filed Feb. 17, 1938 July 23, 1940. F. F. RUAU 2,209,139

TOBACCO MANIPULATING MACHINE Filed Feb. 17, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,("hvenior 4% @W WM ymigw lily 21. 7

Patented July 23, 1940 UNITED STATES TOBACCO MANIPULATING MACHINE Flix Frdric Ruau, Deptford, London, England, assignor to Molins Machine Company, Limited, Deptford, London, England Application February 17, 1938, Serial No. 191,065 In Great Britain April 16, 1937 2 Claims.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to tobacco manipulating machines in which a continuous tobacco rod or filler is formed, such for example as continuous rod cigarette making or 6 tobacco packaging machines in which a stream of uncompressed or substantially uncompressed tobacco is given the whole or substantially the whole of its compression whilst in a converging passage. which passage is provided for shaping the filler rod and for gradually converging the paper web to a U cross-section.

In such machines it is usual to pass the stream of uncompressed tobacco through a passage having converging side and top walls. The fact that the side Walls are converging is not disadvantageous to'any noticeable extent, because the tobacco stream is moved through the passage on the web of cigarette paper, the longitudinal side portions of which are folded upwardly in the pasv 20 sage and embrace that part of the tobacco stream which would otherwise "be engaged by the side converging walls, and the side walls do not, therefore, tend to arrest the .forward movement of the tobacco stream. The top wall of this converging passage, however, is also a converging wall and has, prior to this invention, consisted of a stationary surface which engages with the upper surface of the tobacco stream, thereby, as will be appreciated, tending to arrest the movement of the tobacco. From experiments it has been presumed that the action of this top wall or tongue, as it ,is usually called, tends to disar range the tobacco stream and increases any irregularities thereof. It is an object of the present invention to reduce this disarragement of the tobacco filler by avoiding the use of the stationary tongue as aforesaid.

According to the present invention there is provided a cigarette making machine comprising means to feed a stream of tobacco and a web of wrapping material to folding elements for wrapping the web around the tobacco, a converging passage to fold the webto a U formation with the tobacco stream positioned in the base of the U, guard means to keep the tobacco away from the longitudinal edges of the web in the converging passage, a movable surface or surfaces in said converging passage and wedge shaped guide surfaces disposed between said guard means and the movable surface or surfaces to co-opcrate with said movable surface or surfaces to give the tobacco stream the whole or substantially the whole of its compression independently of the action of the converingpassage in folding the web into U formation.

\ Figures 4 to 8 inclusive are sections,'drawn to It will be seen that by this construction the tobacco is given its'compression in the converging passage and only arelatively small area of stationary surface (i. e., the wedge shaped guides) is in contact with the tobacco during such com- 5 pression.

The movable surface may comprise a wheel rotatable about an axis transverse to the direction of movement of the web through the converging passage, and if desired the wedge shaped guide surfaces may extend from the guards (for example, the guide surfaces may be integral with the guards) to the movable surface. The moving surface is preferably located at a position as near as possible to the narrow end of the converging 115 passage in order to ensure that the minimum expansion of the filler will occur after the filler has been formed by the compression of the tobacco stream by the moving surface co-operating with said wedge shaped guide surfaces.

A passage having substantially parallel walls may lead from the narrow end of the converging passage to the folding elements and 'be provided with'guards for the longitudinal edges of the web, and means may be provided in the sub- .25 stantially parallel passage further to compress or to hold down the tobacco in the parallel passage and to guide the tobacco fillerto the folding elements. The means to further compress or to hold down the tobacco filler in the substantially 30 parallel passage may comprise a stationary surface or a moving surface, for example, a roller. The means to feed the filler and the web to the folding elements may comprise an endless band and the band and the web may be folded from a 35 flatcondition to U form substantially together.

One embodiment of the invention will be de- I scribed by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure l is a side elevation of a part of av noncompression cigarette making machine.

I Figure 2 is a plan of a part of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view in the direction of the arrow 3. Figure 2, some parts being omitted.

an enlarged scale, on lines 4-4, 55, 6-6, I l, 88 respectively of Figure 2.-

Figure 9 is a section, drawn to an enlarged scale, on the line 9-9 of Figure 2.

Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the specification and drawings.

Tobacco is supplied to the mechanism by tobacco feeding mechanism [0 of any well known construction and the tobacco is showered on to the surface of an endless band II which moves wweb to :overlap one another when the web is chi lenthwise of the endless band II, .The band II as it moves beneath the chute gradually collects tobacco on its surface until when the band has passed completely along the length of the shower,

a stream of tobacco containing sufiicient tobacco to form a tobacco filler or core has been received by the band.

The band I I delivers the stream of tobacco over the surface of a short (considered in the direction of the moving" tobacco) stationary bridge l3 and thence on to the surface of a continuous web M of cigarette paper.

The web l4 of cigarette paper is fed from a spool (not shown) in well known-manner and is I u-rariged to press on the tobacco in the converging passed over a guide roller and is received by a further endless band l6 hereinafter referred to as 'a "garniture band which conveys the'web rofpaper-l'btogether with the tobacco stream which isreceived on the surface of the web of paper towards and, afterthe tobacco stream has been compressed to form a tobacco filler orcore, through-a garniture, .not shown, which folds the paper around the tobacco. The garniture band; I6 is folded together. with 'the web of paper IE, but the width of the 'band l6 isrl'e'ss than thewidth of the paper web so as to permit the longitudinal edges of the paper folde'ol around'the tobacco. When the web l4 and; garniture band l6 first engage with each other-they are each'in'a substantially'flatjcon dition, and when the tobacco stream is first delivered to the web of. paper the paper web is in a substantially flatcondition. j

Ata point 'whichvis adjacent to that at which the tobacco streamis received by the paper web !4 the paper'web 'and the garniture band are moved into a passage I! having converging side walls I8 and I9 and the paper web together with fthe garniture' band 16 is folded 'to a U form in a -manner" such thatpthe tobacco stream on the paper----web ispositioned in the base of the U formed by the-web,"v see Figures 3 to 8. I 1

The-longitudinal edges of. the web M are guarded 'whilst'being folded into a U form so :that the tobacco is retained in position on the web and does not become entangled with the longitudinal edges of the web which, as it will be understood, must be kept as free from tobacco :as possible in order that the longitudinal edges :may at .alater stage-be folded into overlapping engagement" to complete the'wrapping of? the tobacco, The folding of the paper web I4 .into -.U form is performed by the sides I8" and 19' of -the-slots20' and 2| formed in blocks 22 and 23 respectively from "which the passage is formed. :As can be seenfrom Figures 3 to 8 the slots 20 and Zl are ofhelical form so that as the garnitureba'nd' 'IG and the r endless web I l are "moved over the'surfaces l8 and ii! respectively the band and the web are gradually folded into U form,-the band and Web being held up against ,the surfaces IB'rand [9' by the tension of the band l6.

The surfaces l8 andql9' respectively comprise sides of the slots 2|] and 2| and by'this means the longitudinaledges of "the web are shrouded and the closedportions of the slots providethe guards for the longitudinal edges of the web l4.

V The narrow end of the converging passage l1 communicateswith a further passage 24, see .,=Figures 2:;and 9,1whibhefurther-passage.has sub- .the parallel passage 24.

At a position which, is as near as possible to the narrow end of the converging passage l1 there is provided above the bottom of the passage and between the converging side walls l8 and l9 thereof, a movable surface which, in the drawings, is shown' as a wheel 21 freely rotatajble about an axis transverse to the direction of 15 movement of the tobacco stream through the converging passage l'l. The movable surface is arpassage and to reduce the cross-sectional area of the tobacco stream to substantially the cross- 20 sectional area which it is desired that the tobacco fillershall have. Since, however, it is'not'p'ossible for the wheel .2'l.-completely"to close the space between theiconvergin'g side walls l8 and l9, tongue means'28-and29 having'wedge shaped guide surfaces are dispose'dibetween the'sides of the wheel 21 and the guards for the' longitudinal edges ofthepaper web, and the wedge shaped guide surfaces of the tongue means 28 and 29 co-operate with the wheel 21 to give the tobacco stream the whole or substantially thewholefof its. compression independentlyof'the'a'ction of. the converging passage" in folding the web 'into U formation.

It will be seen that the ,compres'sion'is mas-" pendent of the gradual folding of the paper-web in that the folding of the paper web is gradual along the converging passage [1, whereas the tobacco is kept-clear: of the longitudinal edges of the paper web by meansnof the guards and is 40 compressed in one stage (when, "a's in thecon- 'struction being described only one wheel--21 is employed) at a'given position in the passage, the compression being between the garniture band it, which] supports the. paper. Web; 131185.45

gigheel 21 and thewedge shaped-guides 28 and As will be seen from the drawings 'the'wedge shaped guides 28 and 29 are integral withthe converging side walls l8 and 19 and with the* guards for the longitudinal edges of the paper web. By this means substantially the whole' of the space between the sides of the rotatable wheel 2'! and theconve'rging sidewalls IBand I9 is covered at the position at which the rteduction of cross-sectional area of toba'ccocore takes place. If desired, two or more wheels 27 withcooperating wedge shaped guides may be provided in series so that the compression wouldbg i stages, but it will be appreciated in that case also the compressionjis'independent of the folding of the paper web.v Q 1 A stationary guide 30' is disposed above the." 5 surface of the band H andthepaper..web,l l"

and serves as a guide for the upper. surfaceof the tobacco before it is engaged by the wheel 21. The guide 30, although it is shownat approximately the same distance above the band =7 l l and the web I as the lowestpoint on the :periphery of the wheel 27:, is not arranged to, apply any substantial degree of compression to the. tobacco before it is engaged by the wheel 21, because as will be appreciated, the tobaccotn has not been gathered together due to the folding of the web 14 and the garniture band 16 and is, therefore, less dense than it is when it is engaged by the wheel 21. The guide 30 is so adjusted that it will not apply any substantial degree of compression to the Web.

From Figures 4 to 8 it will be seen that the under surface of the garniture band 16 is not supported by the bottom of the converging passage l'! and by this means should there be a tendency for tobacco to become jammed this tendency will be overcome by reason of the ability of the garniture band to move towards the bottom of the converging passage, thus relieving the pressure in the passage and permitting the tobacco freely to pass therethrough.

The wheel 21 is journalled in a support 3| which is pivoted at 32 to a bracket 33 fixed to the bed of the machine. The wheel 21 is normally clamped in position as shown in Figure 1 by means of a locking device 34, the support 3! being located by a stop 35. If for any reason it is desired to obtain access to the converging passage the locking device 34 is released and the wheel 21 is swung about the pivot 32 so that the wheel is moved out of the converging passage 51.

As the compressed tobacco core is passed through the substantially parallel passage a further member comprising a rotatable wheel 36 is provided further to compress or to hold down the tobacco in the parallel passage and to guide the tobacco to the garniture in which the folding of the paper web about the tobacco folder is completed.

.The periphery of the wheel 36 may, as shown in Figures 2 and 9 of the drawings, be shaped so as to conform substantially to the shape of the tobacco filler; The wheel 36 is journalled in a support 31 and the support is pivoted at 38. The wheel 36 is normally clamped in the position shown in Figure 1 by a locking device 39 and the wheel is mounted in the manner described so as to permit access to be obtained to the parallel passage 25.

After passing through the passage 24 the loaded web I4 is passed to a garniture which completes the folding of the web about the tobacco filler. The garniture comprises a first folder 40 which engages one upstanding limb of the U formed by the web and a second folder (not shown) which engages the other upstanding limb of the U. Between the two folders there is provided an adhesive applying wheel 4! of any suitable known construction which applies adhesive to the patent is to make the'stream of tobacco as uniform as possible, and after obtaining such a stream the tobacco is then given its compression to reduce its cross-sectional area. In order to reduce the cross-sectional area of the stream the present invention may be employed instead of the usual compression tongue referred-to in United States Patent No. 2,149,924, and thus by using the present invention for compressing the tobacco one avoids as far as possible increasing any irregularities which may be present in the tobacco filler and also reduces the possibility of y the formation of irregularities.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: r

1. In a cigarette making machine, folding elements to fold a Web of wrapping material around a stream of tobacco, means to feed a stream of tobacco and a web of wrapping material lengthwise to said elements, stationary tongue means comprising curved tobacco engaging surfaces for pressing the tobacco stream, said surfaces converging towards each other, a converging passage coacting with said feeding means to fold the web to a -U formation with the tobacco stream positioned in the base of the U, guardmeans extending from the sides of the'tongue means to the converging passage to keep tobacco away from the longitudinal edges of the web in the converging passage, a movable presser element having a movable tobacco engaging surface extending through the tongue means, the movable surface and the tongue means cooperating to press the tobacco stream.

2. A cigarette making machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the compression tongue is formed in two separate longitudinal parts, being spaced apart to provide a passage having opposed parallel walls, and wherein the movable compression element extends between the parallel Walls to engage the tobacco.

FREDERIC RUAU. 

